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I am looking for an abbreviation for delimiter word (meaning separator). It is quite long to write and I would like to shorten it (e.g. in the programming code, like variable names).

What is the abbreviation for delimiter word?

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    I might be off, but why not SEP , it's even in the dictionnary as abbreviation for separation merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sep unless it's used for something else already? or if you want something more original I like "dTr" or "deTer" with the capital t in the middle acting as a ...delimiter
    – P. O.
    Aug 20, 2016 at 1:11
  • @JoeBlow I could remove the programming part (not a problem), but I wanted to give some context. I'm asking about the English language.
    – kenorb
    Aug 20, 2016 at 11:32

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There isn't a formal abbreviation (EDIT: according to Joe Blow, dlm is commonly used in programming contexts). Using del wouldn't work because that might be taken as an abbreviation for delete. I assume you're talking about using the word in code comments - you could say deli or deli., but I'd avoid it. Clarity in code comments is (generally speaking) more important than the handful of bytes you'll be saving (depends on your situation).

If you're worried about space for bandwidth reasons, e.g. you're commenting a javascript file that will be downloaded at least once for all users, most minifiers will allow you to strip out code comments when you minifiy the file - if you go this route, code comments wouldn't affect bandwidth.

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  • Sensible advice. +1
    – Centaurus
    Aug 20, 2016 at 0:00

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